an adventure to Kitchen Mart!!

Now you may well ask, what is Kitchen Mart?

Well it's a large warehouse of kitchen ware ... a very large warehouse of anything to do with kitchens, perhaps describes it fairly well. 

Everything that you see at a Hawker Market / Food Hall is what you would see at Kitchen Mart ... except the food!

 

All the plates, cups, cutlery, bowls, cooking pots, dishes, pots, pans, woks, spatula's, whisks, measuring jugs, tables, table cloths, you name it,

it was there.

of every size and shape imaginable.

The prices were very reasonable too. 

It is located near the Eunos MRT, in the Eunos Industrial Park. So if driving, do take note of the one way streets in this area:

Certainly worth taking the time to go and have a look for yourself. I think it is a place to go 'looking' on your first visit, then when you return you will know what you want and where it is.

Now, go to the GOTHERE website and put in this address:

1039 Eunos Ave 3

It’ll get you there by bus, MRT, car or taxi.

Kitchen Mart looks like this from the street and there seems to be plenty of parking available too:

and then as you walk in ....

 

 

surely you would find this irresistible?

and can you see what is missing?

yes .... crowds of people!!!

we found it pleasant to walk around the store without having to side step the customers and staff.

There are other blogs where the Kitchen Mart is mentioned, one being my friend - Andrea - who blogged about her visit a couple of weeks back. You can read Andrea's blog right here:

"Our Family Adventures"

or take a look at PatriCa's blog:

 

"My Wok Life"

and there is also the 

The ICS Parent-Teacher Fellowships blog:

"Faith Resources"

but go check it out for yourself!

* * * * * * *

a special moment .... a very special moment.

on the way home in the train yesterday 

I witnessed a very special moment.

There was an Islamic family (mom, dad and daughter) and sitting beside them was a Chinese mother and her daughter.

picture this

for a few moments, these two little girls 

just watched each other

one reached out her hand to the other

they are both holding hands

and they smile

both families aknowledge this by 

smiling at each other

many people in the train were watching the 

little girls and were smiling too

a very special moment

at that moment I remembered that In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize lecture, given in 1964, he talks about the idea of a house, “We have inherited a big house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.” 

and on the brink of the upcoming holidays, no matter what you celebrate or what you believe in, we are all people who make up this truly wonderful world we live in.

some Iranian food for lunch.....

I know ... I have been super slack with my blog the past couple of weeks. Not that I have been slack with not doing anything, far from it .... am just as busy as ever, if not more so.

But my blog priorities have slipped down a notch or two!

So here is just a quick posting about lunch yesterday, well I didn't promise the posting to be exciting did I?

Yvonne and I decided to hit the Arab Quarters yesterday and of course what does one do after walking around gazing at fabrics,  some window shopping and of course watching the tourists?

WE EAT.

we decided to try NASRIN RESAURANT this time, looking for a bit of a change from Alaturka or Amirah's Grill the two places we really like. We should have stayed with what we like rather than being adventurous and trying out this Iranian Restaurant!

Food was mediocre and for the price, would have expected more on the plate..... and I should have been tuned in for the 'warning bells', which in this case meant no other customers!!

 

 

 

and I will not return either.

..

The unspoken rules of air travel that are often ignored by passengers.

for everyone that travels often, please take note of the following, courtesy of News.com and Eric Auld.

to view the original site with more images click HERE.

Go slowly when tilting your seat back, and it's nice to tell people behind first, especially when food and drink is served

 You don't get to take your shoes and your socks off

No cross cabin conversations with the people in the other aisle.....

 

and we can all relate to this one.....

Don't knee or kick the seat in front. Same goes for your kids!!

But do check out all the other 'rules' as well ....... have you been guilty of at least one of these?

CLICK HERE

thanks News.com and Eric Auld 

for alerting us to the 'unspoken rules' we often forget!

it's all about etiquette in the air

.................................................

our new balcony!

John had a couple of days off earlier in the week due to the Hari Raya holiday yesterday (Wednesday Nov 17) ...... so of course we headed off to Batam.

.......... and as everyone knows we have a little villa at Nongsa and go over there for some peace and quiet as often as we can. We had not been for the past 5 weeks as we had some renovation work being done and we were hoping it would be finished this past weekend. But sadly it was not fully completed as there had been a lot of rain in the past few weeks which certainly would have held up any works being done. 

 All good things come to those who wait!

The renovations we had done were some painting and a few other bits and pieces, but the BIG thing we had done was a new balcony on the second level of our villa!

We were expecting it to be completed and to be able to sit out on our new balcony having an early morning coffee ...... but was not to be. Had we realised, we would have waited till the next week to go over. But it was still rather nice to be able to stand out on our balcony and watch the sunrise and even better we could actually lay in bed and see the ships heading up into the South China Sea!  The blue arrow shows the direction we look out to from our villa ..... so yes we can see all the ships traveling in and out of the Singapore Straits .....

 

we go over again this weekend and hopefully it will be completed ..... nothing much else to do, just a wee bit of painting and hanging of the drapes. The cups, the coffee and the tea are all ready and waiting .... all it needs is us out there on our nice new balcony!!!

above image is coming thru our bedroom.... and on to the balcony as seen below

 

 

and then the various views we see from the balcony

 

 image above is looking direct out to the South China Sea 

and below is over towards Kota Tinggi in Malaysia

the image below shows what the balcony looks like from below, but you can still see the masking tape on the windows in this ..... 

but by next week, we will have better photos to share I am sure!

in September we had an addition in our garden

you can read all about her HERE

..

Arnold Roy BARTRAM (1895 - 1917)

Arnold Roy BARTRAM

was born in Richmond, 
Victoria, Australia 

in 1895 to 

George Andrew BARTRAM and Isabella SHANDS

PLEASE NOTE:
this blog post on Arnold Roy Bartram
has been updated on 3rd May 2012
and can now be found

HERE

George and Isabella were married on 27 August 1878 in Richmond, Victoria, Australia and had seven children.

As a young boy, Arnold attended the Yarra Park State School.

He was a 21 year old Shipping Clerk and living with his parents at 9 Hull St, Richmond when he enlisted in the AIF on 6 June 1916. Private Bartram was assigned to the 58th Battalion.

Both Arnold and his brother, Cyril were both in the 58th Battalion, 4th Reinforcement.

He embarked from Melbourne for Plymouth per the 

H.M.A.T. "Orsova," on the 1st of August 1916 with the 4th reinforcements .
 

He proceeded to Folkestone in France per the "Princess Henrietta," on the 6th of December 1916.

He was admitted to hospital for gastroenteritis on the 

13th of March 1917 and received a gun shot wound to the abdomen in the Second Battle of Bullecourt on the 12th of May 1917. 

He died of his wounds on the 13th of May 1917 aged 21 years.

 

Inscription:
Australian Infantry, A.I.F.

Grevillers British Cemetery
Grevillers
Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, France
Plot: II. E. 2.

The Second Battle of Bullecourt

13th - 17th May

58th Division

Over the next few days the 58th Division took over the entire front at Bullecourt west of the Central Road. The Australian's 5th Division maintaining the front on the right.

The end though, was finally in sight. On 15 May the Germans made a final attempt to oust the British from the village. The Australians and British now held the upper hand though and they were now as well entrenched in the old German positions as the Germans had been only a week before.

As the two sides' artillery fought out their own battle for supremacy the advancing German infantry now found themselves cut down by entrenched machine gun positions.

The moment was ripe to finally take Bullecourt in its entirety. At 02:00 hours on 17 May 1917 the 2/5 London Battalion attacked the last German held strong points in the south west corner of the village.

Bullecourt was in Allied hands after two weeks of gruelling and costly battle.

At 0345 hours on 7 May 1917 the British 7th Division made another attempt, this time successful, to take Bullecourt village but, as usual, the German response was vigorous and the village changed hands several times over the next few days with heavy casualties on both sides.

On 12 May the Australian 5th Division gave the British 7th Division strong support, in particular capturing, or destroying, several troublesome machine gun positions and joining up with them in Bullecourt village, most of which was now in British hands. This is when Arnold was shot.

Quite a bit is written on the battle of Bullecourt and one such article worth reading can be found HERE.

images above and below, are of Australian troops in the trenches at the battle of Bullecourt in May 1917

BARTRAM.- In fondest memory of our brother,
Arnold Roy, who died of wounds on 

13th May,1917, at Bullecourt,
brother of Raymond Everard and Reginald Percy
(both died on active service).

(Inserted by their loving sisters, Ethel and Clarice.) 
7 - 12 May 1917

above image: Informal outdoors portrait of the three Bartram brothers who have met up whilst on active service. 

Identified left to right: 

Reginald Percy Bartram, 37th Battalion; 

Arnold Roy Bartram, 60th Battalion;  

Raymond Everard Bartram, 46th Battalion.

the new updated blog post on 

Raymond Everard BARTRAM 

is
HERE

Lest we Forget

PLEASE NOTE:
this blog post on Arnold Roy Bartram
has been updated on 3rd May 2012
and can now be found

HERE

Raymond Everard BARTRAM (1892 - 1917)

 

THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN UPDATED
AND CAN NOW BE FOUND HERE:

Raymond Everard BARTRAM

born in Richmond, Victoria, Australia in 1892 to 

George Andrew BARTRAM and Isabella SHANDS

George and Isabella were married on 27 August 1878 

in Richmond, Victoria, Australia 

and had seven children.

Ray enlisted on 3rd July 1915 in the 

Australian Imperial Forces (AIF)  and 

embarked Melbourne (Victoria, Australia) with 

8th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion,
service # 2682aboard the SS Makarini on 15 Sep 1915

Just 4 weeks later Ray Bartram became dangerously ill 

with appendicitis and did not recover  until after Christmas in December 1915.

The following year - on 8th December 1916 - 

Ray Bartram was promoted to Corporal and on 

26 May 1917 was promoted to Sergeant.

12 days later he was killed in action 

at Messines Ridge in Belgium 

along with 5 of his comrades by a 

high explosive shell on 7th June 1917.

The article on the Battle of Messines 

can be located HERE and in part reads

It has been argued that the Battle of Messines was the most successful local operation of the war, certainly of the Western Front.  Carried out by General Herbert Plumer's Second Army, it was launched on 7 June 1917 with the detonation of 19 underground mines underneath the German mines.

The target of the offensive was the Messines Ridge, a natural stronghold southeast of Ypres, and a small German salient since late 1914.  The attack was also a precursor to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele, decided upon by the British Commander-in-Chief Sir Douglas Haig following the collapse of the French Nivelle Offensive earlier in May 1917.

General Plumer had begun plans to take the Messines Ridge a year early in early-1916.  Meticulous in manner, Plumer preferred to plan for limited successes rather than gamble all on a significant breakthrough.

 

The following website has quite a bit on the battle of Messines including some images and is titled:

Digger History:  

an unofficial history of the 

Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces.

The attack effectively began on 3rd June when the preliminary bombardment intensified, and was kept up until 0250 hrs on 7th June when Raymond Everard BARTRAM was killed.

he was 23 years of age.

The above is an informal outdoors portrait of three Bartram brothers who have met up whilst on active service, from Richmond, Vic. Identified left to right: 6955 Private (Pte) Reginald Percy Bartram, 37th Battalion; 2304 Pte Arnold Roy Bartram, 60th Battalion; and probably 2682 Sergeant (Sgt) Raymond Everard Bartram, 46th Battalion.

all three brothers were killed in 1917

Arnold Roy BARTRAM - KIA 13 May 1917
Raymond Everard BARTRAM - KIA 07 June 1917
Reginald Percy BARTRAM - KIA 04 Oct 1917

 Ray Bartram is buried at the Messines Ridge Cemetery in 

Mesen, West Vlaaderen, Belgium.

  

The blog post on Arnold Roy BARTRAM
KIA 13 May 1917 is HERE

THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN UPDATED
AND CAN NOW BE FOUND HERE:

Raymond Everard BARTRAM



..

the shophouses of Singapore

Shophouses can be - and are - multi-functional ..... a shop, a home, a restaurant or even a business, whatever you want it to be!

Typically, shophouses consist of shops on the ground floor which open up to a public arcade or "five-foot way", and which have residential accommodation upstairs. The shophouses would abut each other to form rows with regular facade, fire walls and adherence to street alignment.

A great site for information on Shophouses and where to locate them is Singapore.Sg and I have uploaded a blog on the Five Foot Ways of Cantonment Road in Singapore, that may also be of interest.

 

 

 

most are very well cared for, then you come across a few that need more then just a coat of paint!

 Many styles are unique to Singapore, though shophouses can also be seen in parts of Malaysia.

Over the time we have been here I have often taken photos of these amazing shophouses ..... there are a few here for your enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As its name suggests, a shophouse often contains a shop with separate residential spaces. More generally, space occupied by the former contains a semi-public function. While this usually is, and historically usually was, a shop, it could just as easily be a food and beverage dormitory for single workers. 

Popular belief holds that shophouses were initially occupied by single families, with their private living areas in one space and the more public family business in another. However, it is possible that the two spaces were usually used by unrelated persons or groups, who may be tenants or resident owners. The position of the shop and residential space depends on the number of floors of the shophouse: A single storey shophouse tends to include residential space behind the shop, while residential spaces in shophouses of two or more storeys are typically located above the shop.

There are people that purchase these Shophouses and renovate, as did this couple. Click HERE to see the amazing renovation of one of these very old shophouses!

 

 Singapore is modernizing at an incredible rate and shows no sign of slowing down. Fortunately, its unique shophouse architecture is being preserved in ways that both residents and visitors can appreciate and utilize.

Next time you are visiting Singapore or maybe just wandering around the streets, take a closer look at some of these unique buildings of Singapore!